Pocket Edition was initially launched exclusively for the Xperia PLAY on Google Play[9] for US $6.99 on August 16, 2011. It was later released for other Android devices on October 7, 2011,[22] and iOS on November 17, 2011[23]. On September 13, 2012, the Pocket Edition was made available for purchase on the Amazon Appstore. A demo/lite version of the game, which was essentially version 0.2.1 without world save functionality, was available until October 21, 2013. The Windows Phone 8.1 version was released on the Microsoft Store on December 10, 2014.[24] The Windows Phone 8.1 version (which also ran on Windows 10 Mobile) was discontinued after the release of Alpha 0.16.2 on November 18, 2016, and was later replaced by a release for Windows 10 Mobile only (which was free to owners of the previous Windows Phone 8.1 version) on February 22, 2017 starting with 1.0.3.[25] After the release of 1.0, Pocket Edition for Fire OS was no longer available for Fire TV, but the new, more expensive Fire TV Edition was free to its previous owners.

The objective of the game remains the same as its Java Edition and Legacy Console Edition counterparts, where players can build virtual realities in a sandbox-like environment. Like its counterparts, Pocket Edition also has survival elements present in other versions of the game such as brewing, hunger, and dimensions like the Nether and the End. The multiplayer mode is cross-platform compatible between all touch-screen devices capable of running Pocket Edition.[26]

The HUD and other elements are adapted to mobile standards of gameplay. Interactions are made via touchscreen (both the iOS and Android versions of Pocket Edition have the same gameplay[27]). To comply with the disadvantages of touchscreen gameplay, several features were revised. For instance, the crafting system uses the MATTIS system and items are disposed by long-tapping their icon on the hotbar. For better visibility on mobile screens, blocks being aimed at are highlighted rather than outlined. Unlike mobile's crafting menu, Windows 10 edition's crafting menu is similar to Java and Console crafting menu. The game was released with graphics akin to that of Minecraft Alpha (bright green grass blocks, old cobblestone texture, etc.), but as of Alpha 0.8.0, graphics have become equivalent to the Java Edition but also including light tinting and shading affected by the Sun's position. Differences from the Java Edition include:

Some mobs have some sort of difference from their Java Edition counterparts. See the Mobs section below.

Pocket Edition differs from the Java Edition in a variety of ways, such as more vibrant graphics, revised terrain and exclusive items. The development team stated that once Pocket Edition is up to date with Java Edition, it will start making its own diverse progress.[28]

A video of an early prototype was released on Twitter, showing the game on the Xperia PLAY. The alpha version was later released, and became no longer exclusive to the Xperia PLAY on the 7th of October 2011. The non-exclusive version was going to be released on September 29th for Android[29] but there were several severe bugs that needed to be fixed; the release was delayed until the 7th of October.

A version for iOS devices was confirmed to be released before 2012 in an interview with Mojang[30] and was subsequently released on the 17th of November 2011.

After the initial releases for iOS and Android, updates were released in parallel, with the same features being added for both platforms. During the Alpha stage, various aspects of gameplay were introduced into Pocket Edition including: crafting, smelting, more blocks, items, mobs and more game modes to bring it closer to the Java Edition. As the Minecraft Pocket Edition development team works closely, often blocks released on the Java Edition are released around the same time for the Pocket Edition. Certain features were also tested on Pocket Edition before their Java Edition releases, such as beetroots and their related items, and also block models.

Starting on November 22, 2013,[31]Mojang began to publicly release testing versions of full updates to Android users who opt into the beta program, in order to get major feedback, especially for bug reporting. This enabled the official updates to be considerably more stable.

Versions from 0.8.0 to 0.12.1 required opting into a Google+ group to receive development builds. Players would then see development updates appear as normal updates in the Play Store. On July 17, 2015, the Google+ group was removed due to the amount of spam and advertisements that the group attracted."[32][33][34] On November 3, 2015, the PE Beta team published a dedicated blog[35] which was subsequently used for users to opt into the 0.13.0 beta program and to display changelogs for these development builds.

The iOS and other versions feature a D-pad at the bottom-left corner of the screen, which controls movement. When moving forward, two strafing buttons will appear. The jump button is located on the bottom-right corner, and the sneak is in the center of the D-pad. Sneaking can be achieved by double tapping this button. The location of the jump button and the sneak button can be swapped, in the controls section of the options menu. Note that when moving towards an adjacent block that is one level higher than the player, the player will automatically jump up the block. This can also be disabled in the controls section of the options menu. One can place blocks by tapping the screen in a desired location. Destroying blocks is similar to the Java Edition's way, but rather than clicking the mouse, the player taps and holds. Split controls can also be used, which allows you to place and break blocks similarly to Java Edition, where a crosshair appears and allows you to place blocks using that. To change to your camera view, go to Settings > Video. There should be a dropdown button displaying your current view, and tapping on it will open a dropdown menu allowing you to choose different camera views. To open the inventory screen, tap the triple dotted button on the right of the hot bar. You can touch and hold an item in the hot bar to throw it, and if the hot bar contains a stack of items, it will throw the entire stack. You cannot divide it unless interfacing with a container (chest, furnace).

All devices have an option to enable Split Touch Controls, which may be more suitable for bigger screens. There is a crosshair and dragging your finger across the screen lets the player rotate the camera.

Other than the screen size difference allowing any number of slots in the hotbar, the tablet version of the game is the same as other versions, hence the ability to play multiplayer cross-platform with other devices.

Some devices below these specifications have been known to work fine either with or without custom ROM images, kernels, and overclocking of the CPU. However, the CPU "MSM7227" is not supported due to its lack of the floating-point unit.[44] The processor "Tegra 2" is also not supported because the possessor has no support for Neon.

In the demo video, before the game was released, smooth lighting was available. It was taken out due to bugs being produced on a wide range of devices. As of 0.7.0, it is on by default, and since 0.8.0, it cannot be turned off.

The terrain.png file found in filesystem of the App is nearly identical to that in the Java Edition, containing textures for items unimplemented in the Pocket Edition (e.g., Flowers). However in 0.8.0, this file was replaced with terrain-atlas.tga, a neater version of the previous file

The barrier wall in old worlds is also cut by the height limit allowing players to go over it.

The average placing/destroying block range is 4-6 on the Java Edition whilst for the iOS/Android is 6-9.

Shortly before the release of 1.2, the game company NetEase licensed Minecraft in mainland China[45]. The original version is no longer available in the Chinese app store. A separate edition based on Pocket Edition is instead available for free, with a marketplace where players can buy maps, skins, mods and resourse packs with Emeralds (a in game currency that can be bought with real money or by logging in every day).

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